Kasich skips Council of Great Lakes Governors summit to test political waters out West of a 2016 run for the presidency

In 2001, all eight Great Lakes governors and two Canadian premiers committed themselves to closing legal loopholes that allowed Great Lakes water to be diverted away from the region or shipped out in bulk containers.

Last August's thick, pea-green outbreak not only temporarily crippled a system that serves 500,000 people.

It created a once-unthinkable shortage in one of the world's most water-blessed regions.

It required emergency help from the Ohio National Guard, among others.

It became U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gina McCarthy's poster child for water pollution; it cost Toledo untold billions of dollars in revenue upfront and - more importantly - in long-term hidden economic costs.

It put the Great Lakes region in the international spotlight for the wrong reasons, showing the world how vulnerable we've become in this era of climate change, population growth, overly intensive land use, uncontrolled farm runoff, and sewage overflows.

Crisis has been used to describe it over and over.

But at this weekend's big summit, only two of the region's eight governors - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker - have agreed to be there. Snyder is the Council of Great Lakes Governors chairman.

The most conspicuous absence will be that of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who had the TV cameras focused on him last August during the heat of the Toledo water crisis.

Kasich is skipping the governors' summit to test the political waters out in Nevada and Utah over his potential for getting the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

He is expected to announce in July if he will run.

Kasich visited New Hampshire for the fourth time last week and plans a stop in Iowa on June 24.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is skipping out on the Council of Great Lakes Governors summit to test the political waters of a possible run for the presidency in 2016. Photo credit: Associated Press.

Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor is representing Kasich at the Council of Great Lakes Governors' event in Quebec City, as is Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Craig Butler.

Walker is being discussed as a possible GOP nominee, too. But he's planning to be there.

I don't know if the lack of governors at this weekend's event suggests the Council of Great Lakes Governors has lost some of its relevance, if the states are less unified, or if it's just bad timing.

But Great Lakes governors have an issue - poisonous algae - that scientists firmly believe has ability to galvanize the region on Great Lakes restoration in the new era of climate change as much as the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 did for traditional waste from sewage plants and other point sources.

The latter was the biggest event regionally to help lay the groundwork for two landmark 1972 agreements - the federal Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement - that marked the advent of the modern era of sewage treatment. Those acts gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the legal muscle it needs to prevent major chemical releases into the water from all sources, includes factories.

This year's weak attendance among governors and weak agenda raises questions. One of their biggest actions is expected to be symbolic support for a 40 percent reduction in nutrient runoff, something which Great Lakes scientists have been pushing for years but can't get past state and federal legislators who don't want to anger the strong agricultural lobby.

Let's go back to 1998.

A little-known Canadian firm called the Nova Group grabbed international headlines when it revealed it had obtained a permit to start shipping Lake Superior water to Asia, ship by ship.

The amount it proposed would have, in terms of hydrology, amounted to far less than a drop of water from a big glass.

But it was the idea that appalled people.

Back then, many people feared - and still do fear - the Great Lakes region will lose its drawing card if water gets diverted by pipelines to the arid Southwest or shipped in bulk to other parts of the world.

They saw the Nova project as a threat that needed to be headed off.

With help from the Council of Great Lakes Governors, the region's governors and premiers spent $250,000 to get some high-powered legal advice on how to close legal loopholes.

Five of the eight Great Lakes governors met in Niagara Falls for the Council of Great Lakes Governors summit in June of 2001, to start trying to close legal loopholes that allowed Great Lakes water to be diverted out of the region via pipelines and bulk ship exports. What emerged from that summit eventually led to a binding Great Lakes regional water compact, a first of its kind. Photo credit: Associated Press.

Five of eight Great Lakes governors met for the 2001 summit in Niagara Falls.

Then-governors Frank O'Bannon of Indiana, George Ryan of Illinois and Jesse Ventura of Minnesota didn't attend.

But they had already signed onto what others had agreed to sign at that summit, a document called Annex 2001.

Former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft was named chairman of the Council of Great Lakes Governors at that summit, a post he held for the next four years as Ohio took a lead into putting the concept into practice.

Originally an amendment to a 1985 accord among governors that was seen as obsolete because of changes in international law, that 2001 agreement among governors was essentially a pledge to work together against outside water-export threats.

It morphed into what is now known as the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, a first-of-its-kind regional water compact that Great Lakes states now use to manage water withdrawals in hopes of fending off would-be speculators.

Provinces can't be bound by it, being foreign entities. But they have signed memorandums of understanding that they will abide by the principals of it.

The Great Lakes compact is seen by experts in water law as one of this region's most ambitious undertakings in terms of legal precedent and as an effort to unify the states and provinces.

As Noah Hall, a Wayne State University associate law professor and frequent speaker on the topic has said, there is little hope of ever unifying the states and provinces on anything if they can't agree on the fundamental concept of maintaining regional control of their water.

But as important as that issue was and continues to be - skeptics claim it still is fraught with loopholes and governors closed the proverbial barn door after the horse got out - poisonous algae is here and now, a growing menace that re-emerged 20 years ago this summer, in 1995, only to rise exponentially in terms of public awareness after the Toledo water crisis.

Western Lake Erie's algae now attracts global attention.

And Kasich is campaigning, testing the political waters out West for his next possible career move.

Running for President is more important than representing Ohio's interests in protecting the water in Lake Erie that is critical to the well being of Ohio's people and businesses. Why should the people of Ohio expect Gov. Kasich to put the interests of Ohioans first? After all, he is only the chief executive officer and top elected official in our state. But who do we have to blame for electing such a person who puts his state second? We the people. The large majority of those who took the time to vote elected him. So this what we get. A guy who really wants to be President and not the Governor of Ohio.

Good stuff, Tom, but it only adds to my cynicism. It seems there is no real political will to effectively deal with the ecological reality we are living. Could do some reporting on the bottled water industry. I'm particularly interested in the quality of the water on the market. We drink Absopure. Maybe an analysis by a lab at UT could be a part of it.

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"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." - Henry David Thoreau

About Ripple Effect

Every pollution battle ultimately comes down to mankind's desire to better itself while protecting its sense of home. In this blog, Blade Staff Writer Tom Henry looks at how Great Lakes energy-environmental issues have a ripple effect on our public health, our natural resources, our economy, our psychological well-being, and our homespun pride.

About Tom Henry

Tom Henry is an award-winning journalist who has covered primarily energy and environmental issues the past two decades. He is a member of the national Society of Environmental Journalists, one of North America's largest journalism groups.